Is an Edmonton Oilers loss under a bright Saturday spotlight a canary in a coalmine?: 9 Things

Nothing sucks more, if you are an Edmonton Oilers fans, than losing to the Maple Leafs at home on a Saturday night.

But what should we read into that, beyond the result on the scoreboard.

That and more in this edition of…

9. Big D-man Mattias Ekholm will miss three games due to his injury in the Carolina game, including the Toronto game. Considering the value the venerable veteran brings to this team, take the time required to ensure he is o.k.

8. The 7-2 loss Saturday was certainly not on Tristan Jarry. There were big mistakes in front of him. But that does not erase the fact that the embattled Jarry lost a lopsided game on a Saturday night at home. That is something the organization was surely hoping to avoid.

7. The Oilers had been rather good against the rush so far this season. On average, they were only allowing four per game. But it was a different story on Saturday. The first three goals against were rush chances. I felt the seed of that against Toronto was the lack of a sustained forecheck. There was too much time and space for a Toronto defence that is not elite.

6. I have been on “Team Babcock” so far this season. The first real issue I have had is the press box assignment for Trent Frederic on Saturday. After the way he stood up for a teammate against Utah and lit up his bench, one would think he would get more rope than this. For a guy who they are apparently trying to help with his confidence, what message does this send? You may say “play better.”

5. Since I am on the Oilers lineup changes, I will admit I was a bit puzzled by both. No offence to Max Jones, who at least showed a pulse on a Saturday night when too few of the Oilers did. But if your team is having trouble getting enough offence outside of your top line, then how does the Max Jones for Ike Howard substitution address that? And two lineup changes after a victory is something to think about as well.

4. I caught a segment of Alan Mitchell’s show on Sports 1440 this week. Al is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, by the way. The discussion was framed around whether Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was a disappointment as a #1 overall pick. Healthy debate ensued. My take: While not a “generational talent,” I agree, did Edmonton not get tremendous value from the selection? 1,135 games in an Oilers uniform, 892 career points in those games (86 in the playoffs), a respected team leader and an absolute pillar in the community. I am certainly not disappointed.

3. Listening to Bob Stauffer’s radio show this past week was at times frustrating. Not because of the Host, but the cage that his show over at CHED has been put in thanks to its cluttered new format. Perhaps it is accomplishing what those programmers envisioned (I am certain it is not Bob’s idea). But what it has ultimately (if unintentionally) done is squeeze into a cramped space the very big things that committed listeners have come to expect from Oilers Now for years, now: Plugged-in opinions from the popular, larger-than-life Host and some of the very biggest guests anywhere in the game today. It is the radio version of asking Connor McDavid to have the puck less.

2. Lots of people are voicing big concern with the Oilers bottom six. Were they caved against Carolina, and then again versus Toronto? Absolutely. But I would not throw out the baby with the bathwater just yet. I submit that until Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jason Dickinson are in the 2C and 3C slots and fully back and up to speed, you will not know exactly what you have. A lot of these other guys have been playing higher in the lineup than most anyone intended them to and, in some cases, out of position. However, once you have all the right people in the right seats on the bus, things should settle down. I expect Dickinson to play against the Flames as soon as Wednesday. He will make a big difference.

1.The NHL is a tough league. The best hockey league in the world. I have watched and covered it for much of my adult life. Among the many things I learned as a young reporter on the hockey beat is that the league changes between the ten and twenty game mark of the season. The game gets harder. Clubs adapt to their new systems. Veterans who have made a career of being consistent performers start to make a bigger impact night in and night out. And on the other hand, rookies and other players on the margins who made such a positive impact in the pre-season can start to struggle to keep an even keel. With the short training camp added on top of all that, the effect is likely to be even more pronounced this season than ever before.

As a result, it is easy to ask some hard questions of this edition of the Edmonton Oilers: Is big but young Shakir Mukhamadullin a full-time NHL defenceman? Can Owen Michaels maintain an NHL level of play over a season longer than anything he experienced in college? Can Devon Levi maintain his hot hand and stay healthy? Who will eventually grab the 4C job? Will injuries nag the older players? Etc.

But folks: This is all pretty normal. You see it, to varying extents, with every team, with every year. There will be those who want to use the loss to the Leafs to say, “I told you so,” and that the Oilers record is somehow not real. And is it disappointing to see that effort in front of a hometown crowd on a Saturday night in Rogers Place? Yes.

But is it a canary in a coal mine? I would have to see a much bigger, uglier sample size before I believe that.

*This article is not AI generated. It can be found on The Cult of Hockey website, as well as Twitter, Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon.

Bruce McCurdy, 1955-2025.

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